Well, when it’s the World Cup of cricket, almost everything else gets overshadowed. Corruption, the fragile coalition politics in India, the budget and the common man’s growing dreams, almost everything will get overlooked for the next month or so as cricket takes centre stage. There will be more cricket after this, with the IPL’s season IV coming on, but Indians, NRIs, PIOs and all cricket playing nations just do not tire of the game. The more, the merrier.

In our cover story this time, we have posed that all important question—who will lift the World Cup? On batting form alone, India will give any team a run, surely, even though you cannot call the side an outright favourite. Not just yet. Its bowling woes continue, match after match we see the bowling burden being shouldered bravely by one Zaheer Khan, someone else may or may not step up, and that’s the ongoing story. Overall, the bowlers are having a poor tournament, and the Indian fielding unit is perhaps the worst in the competition.

In contrast, Australia looks a very solid unit at the moment, and they can be expected to fight till the last. Never rule out an Aussie unit, even though this time the magic in the batting is missing. But its pace battery continues to marvel. Pakistan looks intense under Shahid Afridi. Sri Lanka can beat any side on its day, and its spin attack is the best in the tournament. After years of being tagged chokers, South Africa will badly want to lift the Cup. For the side, the time is really now. They had a very good series against India, and look the side to beat. England will hope that its bowling unit more often than not functions well, and doesn’t get clobbered repeatedly like it was against Netherlands, India and Ireland, before turning in a tight performance against South Africa. New Zealand, frankly, doesn’t look like it will make it beyond the quarterfinal. If it does, it will be a major upset of some more fancied side. So, as we move in to the business end of the tournament in the coming weeks, brace yourself for some of the finest cricket you’re likely to see.

Elsewhere in our issue, we have opinions on the Indian budget from NRIs, a strong NRI Empire segment, an investment segment covering three states. There are other stories to fill your appetite too.